The rugged desert trails around Eilat aren’t places you’d typically see kids in wheelchairs. But this week, that changed. With specialized all-terrain wheelchairs and helping hands from nearby IDF soldiers, children who had never hiked before found themselves on adventure-filled paths through the wilderness.

This wasn’t just any outing. It was part of Simcha Layeled’s winter camp, where 400 physically disabled children and over 300 staff and volunteers gathered for a week that these amazing kids wait for all year long.

Most of us remember school trips as boring bus rides and forgettable museum visits. But for these children, school trips often mean being left behind. About 90% of physically disabled kids don’t get to join their classmates on overnight trips because schools can’t accommodate their needs.

But Simcha Layeled refuses to accept that reality. They arranged transportation with wheelchair locking mechanisms and extra space for medical equipment. Beach days included floating chairs and adapted snorkeling gear with volunteer buddies. Their jeep tours even utilized vehicles with special boarding platforms and secured seating, ensuring children could safely experience the jarring excitement of off-road travel.

Simcha Layeled doesn’t stop at camp either. Hundreds of volunteers fan out across Israel each week, showing up not at bedsides and homes. They arrive as big brothers and sisters to children fighting medical battles, bringing board games, homework help, and most importantly, friendship that doesn’t revolve around treatment plans. When long hospital stays interrupt normal life, these same heroes appear in pediatric wards with a remarkable ability to make fluorescent-lit rooms feel somehow like home.

Am Yisrael Chai!